Chapter 17: Me? I’m Mark Magnus

“Me? I’m Mark Magnus,” Mark Magnus said as he gazed at the young teen who had been thrown into his cell earlier.

“What do you mean you never heard of me, Mark Magnus? I’m one of the youngest and strongest adventurers of the current generation. Not even Azrael the Righteous can hold a candle to me.”

“You’ve never heard of him either?”

Mark Magnus gave the kid who had been placed in his cell a confused look. Originally, he wanted to give the kid some hope and reassurance that everything was going to be ok. He figured that most of the common kids of the western dukedom would know his name as he had been through several harrowing and dangerous adventures.

“Surely, you heard of my tale to the Bad Keep, or the slaying of Arrington the Blade. Or how about when I explored the Ruinous Temple and discovered an apple from Eden. The auction for that one was amazing you should have been there. Noble ladies from all manner hoods swooned at the sight of me, Mark Magnus,” Mark Magnus said with a faraway expression on his face as he thought about just a few of his harrowing tales.

Returning his attention to the boy who shared his cell, Mark Magnus could tell none of what he said registered with the boy. That just meant he would have a new chance at impressing the greatness of Mark Magnus onto someone new and fresh.

“Well, if you haven’t heard of me, I’m Mark Magnus one of the youngest and the greatest adventurer of this generation. I’ve slayed arrogant trolls, saved babies from burning houses, the only thing I, Mark Magnus, haven’t done yet is save a princess. I’m a gold rank adventurer!”

“What? You don’t know the ranks of adventurers? Well, I, Mark Magnus will educate you. The first rank is Tin, that’s for members with no fighting experience usually kids who are old enough to join and want to make a quick buck by doing odd jobs around the city. Next, are Iron and Bronze, who are usually kids with a bit of training that go out of the cities to hunt small creatures or retrieve medicinal items for alchemist from nearby villages etc. Now we get to the real adventurers. Silver, Gold, and Orichalcum are your monster slayers and horde cullers. That’s me Mark Magnus!”

“Is there anything higher than Orichalcum? Of course, I was getting to it. Mithril is next and finally we have Prestige. These are adventurers you can barely call human they’ve somehow gone even further beyond! I, Mark Magnus will join their ranks someday soon just be on the lookout when you hear my name!”

***

I rolled my eyes at my new roommate. This guy… was a character and I thought I’ve seen all manners of snootiness from the noble kids I’ve interacted with. I was wrong Mark Magnus is on an entirely new level of self-importance. I chuckled at the thought of revealing my identity to him. Not like he would believe me in the first place, but he would get his chance to save someone with the same status as a princess.

I’ve been stuck in the cell for probably two days by now. We were in the town prison that had been expanded to accommodate all the stronger townsfolks and the remaining guards in the city of Comb. I had been placed with what I could only assume to be the adventurers. I arrived at my first city not in the way I would imagine it to go. Sighing I thought back to the day I got separated from Shadow and how I ended up in this situation.

…

Traveling through the second level of the Catacombs was truly a pleasure. Mana stones and ore littered the tunnels, and this gave me a vision on how much wealth was stored underneath the lands of the dukedom. Wealth and undead. The moment I proceeded further into level two the more undead I ran into. Skeletons, ghouls, zombies, and bone constructs where the worse with several other creatures of undead not too far behind on the list.

That's about when the pleasure ended, and the reality started. I wasn’t walking through an undead graveyard. I was traveling through a battlefield. Some of these creatures have been stranded here for a thousand years from the curse on the land. The magic and the natural formation of mana stones in this region fueled the curse and sustained the undead.

It was easy dispatching the skeletons and zombies as a chop to the head would kill a zombie and if the head of a skeleton was gone it was much harder for them to attack me. I ran several test on the skeletons as I would be fighting the undead until I left the second level. All the undead seemed to be able to detect me within around a range of 100 meters so there was no hiding around. With most roaming in parties of 6-10 people and being tier 2 to 4. One thing I was grateful for.

The ghouls were slightly trickery to handle. The were pale creatures that ran on all fours and hunted in packs. Faceless with nothing but a nose and a maw with no lips and shark like teeth that were ready to tear into my flesh. They were trickier because they held on to a piece of intelligence and weren’t just mindless beasts looking for their next meal. They were the creatures that played a part in my separation from Shadow.

I was moving into a broader tunnel when they struck right at an intersection where there was a small tunnel just big enough for an adult to crouch through and crawl but that was plenty for a ghoul.

My ax was already swinging as the creature emerged from the tunnel jaw aimed for my neck. My ax cut in deep into its shoulder but the undead barely flinched bringing in its sharp claws that raked against my armor. My ax stuck on the left of its neck.

‘Strong.’

My body reacted before I could think about my next move and my foot kicked the ghoul back and freed my blade at the same instant. Then another crawl out and another and another.

My back would not be protected today as Malix was still asleep from her previous meal. No matter what I killed including the undead she would eat. This time I let her have all the bodies under a new condition. She would watch my back and she would awaken her bloodline in someone of my choosing. Even though I really didn’t need the bodies that didn’t mean I would just give them up without a price. My kills, my rules, and Malix seemed to agree with that standpoint. It was now obvious to me that Malix needed a vast amount of nutrients. Maybe this is why her mother pushed her onto me?

I counted 15 ghouls emerging from the small tunnel and the mana stones embedded all around me dimmed and grew darker. This was their bloodline ability. I didn’t know its name, and the light provided by the stones grew dimmer and dimmer until the area of our tunnel was completely dark with only a bit of light coming from around the bend. Before the last of the light left, I saw that 3 of the ghouls were tier 4 and the rest were tier 3.

This also happened to force Shadow out of my shadow as there was no place for her to stay anymore. Even my ability to see in the dark was struggling as the light from around the bend wasn’t bright enough to let me see around me. If there was no light, then I would just create some.

My bloodline ability exploded around me just in time as the ghouls had not only surrounded me but were moving in for the kill. I kept it concentrated in a 5-foot radius and as I and the ghouls moved in to engage each other the earth shifted.

Once, twice, three times before a low rumbling came down the tunnels and the sound of rushing water filled my ears. Shadow was next to me in an instant even with my bloodline at full power and concentrated. A black film seemed to surround her figure and she spoke without looking at me.

“You need to move. Now. I will not help you, but I suggest you run through that tunnel,” she said while pointing left.

“That one will take you directly to Comb. You do not want to go through a flash flood. A higher tunnel with an underground river has collapsed.”

The ghouls gave out short yips and clicks the circle turning their attention to the tunnel I had emerged from. They seemed to not have noticed Shadow even though she stood right next to me.

In the moment the ghouls turned I sent out a blast of my ability in the direction Shadow pointed. Killing 2 of the ghouls as I watched the skin on their bodies boil and corpses begin to burn. I turned off my bloodline and took off. My heart racing and my minding working in overdrive as Perfect Recall activated. I remember every rock and stone that was in the way and could trip me up and I avoided them. The ghouls gave out a cry and began to chase. My core gave out a thump in warning and I swiftly dodged left. Still using Perfect recall as I felt a body wiz past my last location. The entrance to the new tunnel was close and I could make out my surroundings now. The ghoul that had overshot to bite me was ended as a threw my ax and watched it sink into its skull. Ripping it out while still running I turned back only to see a flood of debris and water headed my way.

“Shit.”

The good part was it was catching up to the slower ghouls. The bad part was the 3 tier 4s were right behind me and would catch me in a minute or less. These creatures were fast and ran on all fours giving them an advantage over me.

“SHIT.”

My mind burned looking for a solution. If only I had access to my magic. I heard the stories a thousand times growing up from my mother or maids. The story of Apollo Kan descending as a human and coming back as something more something beyond human. Not once had he touched magic beforehand. The solution I came up with was genius. It was run faster but this time use your skills as a knight.

My blood began to increase its speed and my body sped up. This was a skill all humans trained in knighthood learned at tier 3 -Burning Blood-. A skill in which knights increase the blood circulation of their body at the cost of stamina. This puts them in a state of accelerated thinking and movement.

My ax that was dripping black ghoul blood swung out and a -Wind Blade- was sent screaming out cutting into the corridor ahead of me. Several more followed and the pathway ahead began to get blocked as heavy chunks of rock fell. I need to hurry! Or I’d fall into my own trap.

Shadow would not help me, and the tunnel was quickly collapsing. I would not be dying here today.

Then the ground shook. I looked in horror as the hole I had created quickly filled up and collapsed the clicking on jaws on my heels and the sound of water right behind. Before a hand grabbed me seemly from the shadows and threw me as several more rumbles happened in the direction we were coming from.

…

Shadow through me through the hole with a look of horror upon my face. I hadn’t seen her since then. I would have died if not for her and I kept this knowledge close to my heart. I would be paying this debt. I don’t know if she’s alive or dead, but I do know she is a Sun elf.

*

Shadow swam through the mud and decaying corpse’s while chuckling to herself. Quakes weren’t uncommon in the Catacombs and as a rank one she wouldn’t need to breathe, eat, or sleep for at minimum a day when it came to breathing. The others she could go much longer. Her body could pull in the raw mana and use it to sustain herself.

Shadow chuckled once again as she thought about Aegis face as she threw him through the opening. She experienced the taste of death one to many times herself. Her smile faded and she thought about the look of horror that appeared on at the end as she stood there with the ghouls and rushing water. The face she had as her parents did the same for her.

This was a necessary step, and she would be meeting the boy in Comb anyway. It would only take her a day to get through this mess and back on track. Then another to arrive at Comb. She would also investigate the rising number of undead as Comb should have long quell the number of dead in the area. What were the adventurers doing? Ghoul packs didn’t get this big unless something was controlling them. These undead were territorial and would have a pack leader stronger than the rest. There were 3 leaders in one group.

Shadow stood up as the water receded around her.